SERBIA Hard-liners' election gains jeopardize reform movement

The failure of the post-Milosevic leadership has disillusioned Serb voters.
BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) -- The strong election showing by hardline nationalists allied to former strongman Slobodan Milosevic has left Serbia's fractured pro-democracy groups with little choice but to unite or risk seeing a slide toward authoritarianism.
Milosevic, who is currently imprisoned in The Hague, and three other war crimes suspects are candidates in Sunday's parliamentary elections, and could win seats.
Preliminary results showed the Serbian Radical party winning, ahead of more moderate nationalists. The outgoing pro-democratic government was in third place.
The independent Center for Free Elections and Democracy said exit polls had the Radicals with 82 seats, compared with 53 for the Democratic Party of Serbia and 37 for the Democratic Party. Full official results were not expected before today.
"It is important that democratic groups now form a bloc that will ensure that Serbia remains on the path of democratic reforms" and focused on membership in the European Union, said Boris Tadic, the Democratic Party chief.
The outlook
Although the Radicals won most seats, they still cannot form the government alone, not even with Milosevic's Socialists with whom they ruled in coalition until a popular revolt in 2000 replaced them with the now outgoing pro-Western government. The Socialists came sixth.
The failure of the post-Milosevic leadership -- more than a dozen pro-democracy groups whose unity crumbled after 2000 -- brought disillusionment among many Serbs and contributed to the swing back to the hardliners.
Average monthly salaries equal about $300 and the Radicals also profited from deep anti-West feelings generated by the NATO bombing of Serbia during the 1999 Kosovo campaign.
"Serbia is on the path of political chaos," said prominent analyst Aleksandar Tijanic. He predicted that if democratic groups do not reunite, that could lead to new early elections and further gains by the Radicals.
"We will do everything to ensure creation of a stable, democratic government," said Miroljub Labus, the leader of the G17 party that won a projected 22 seats.